The white dwarf PHL 5038A was discovered in 2006 in data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey[3] and the brown dwarf companion was discovered in 2009 from UKIDSS infrared excess and confirmed with Gemini North to be a spacially resolved binary.

[4] A later work found weak pollution due to calcium in the atmosphere of the white dwarf thanks to XSHOOTER spectra from the Very Large Telescope.

In the past the white dwarf was more massive, making the semi-major axis half as large at 33 AU.

It also likely had rocky debris in the form of planetesimals in orbit around the star, maybe similar to the asteroid belt.

As the star lost around half of its mass, the orbit of the brown dwarf and the planetesimals increased.